Updated:

Fri,Aug 27th 2010 @ 11:00 am EDT

In a major policy shift, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued new guidelines regarding the prosecution of deportation cases: if an arrested illegal alien is not a convicted criminal or a terrorist threat, the case should be dropped.

On August 20, ICE chief John Morton outlined the new policy in a memorandum to staff. The policy has the stated purpose of clearing the backlog of cases in immigration court cases, but it also has the effect of creating a de facto amnesty for arrested illegal aliens who have not been convicted of a serious crime. This move follows the leaking of an internal Obama Administration memo which outlined ways of legalizing illegal aliens without Congress' approval.

While pro-amnesty groups have heralded the move -- Helen Harnett of the National Immigrant Justice Center called it "a pretty basic, common-sense thing to do" -- Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley said, "Actions like this demoralize ICE agents who are trying to do their job and enforce the law."

As proof of the agency's relaxed policy toward non-criminal illegal aliens, an ICE news release from the same date of the memorandum's release trumpets the case of an arrested illegal alien, who has been deported from the U.S. on 8 separate occasions, finally being charged with one count of violating immigration laws after being found residing illegally in the U.S. for the 9th time.

Click here to read more about ICE's new policy of not deporting non-violent illegal aliens whom they have arrested.

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